Public sector chief executives salaries were reasonably restrained over the past year but State Services Commissioner Iain Rennie raised concerns about the amount paid to crown entity bosses and top earners in the tertiary education sector.Overall the tot
Public sector chief executives salaries were reasonably restrained over the past year but State Services Commissioner Iain Rennie raised concerns about the amount paid to crown entity bosses and top earners in the tertiary education sector.
Overall the total bill for public service chief executives dropped by $434,000.
The saving was the result of salary changes but also vacancies not being filled and the merger of the New Zealand Food Safety Authority with the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and the National Library and Archives New Zealand with the Department of Internal Affairs which meant three CEO positions were cut.
Among the 24 CEOs who had performance reviews, 13 had no change to their salaries, five had their salaries cut and a further six were increased.
The highest increases were Ministry of Education chief executive Karen Sewell (up from $480,000-$489,999 to $500,000-$509,999) and IRD boss Robert Russell (up from $440,000-$449,999 to $460,000-$469,999).
Other increases went to the heads of the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Justice, Department of Conservation and Department of Corrections.
The Ministry of Transport's CEO also received a rise (up from $350,000-$359,999 to $360,000-$369,999).
Mr Rennie said pay increases were based on whether the CEOs had exceeded expectations.
He was concerned about the level of pay increases in the tertiary sector.
While there was a 4 percent increase in the number of public sector bosses who earned over $100,000, the number of people paid above that in the tertiary sector was 21 percent, compared to 28 percent in 2008/09.
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